I am a big Sally Hepworth fan and have reviewed several of her books. If she has a new book coming out, I add it to my Goodreads “Want to Read” list. And that was the case with Darling Girls. So, when St. Martin’s Press reached out with a widget, I immediately accepted. I was so excited and couldn’t wait to read this book. Thankfully, it didn’t let me down.

The main storyline of Darling Girls is told in three parts. The first part contains chapters that show how Jessica, Norah, and Alicia dealt with growing up in foster care. The author labeled those chapters with the name of who the chapter was following, and all of these chapters started with just their name. The second part details how each girl ended up at Miss Fairchild’s, the abuse they suffered, and what happened when Amy came into the picture. These chapters also start with the girls’ names, but “before” is written underneath. These are significant chapters because everything is explained, and I mean everything. The third part is told in first person by an individual (revealed to be Miss Fairchild) during sessions with a psychiatrist. Those chapters (labeled The Office of Dr. Warren, Psychiatrist) are also critical because they reveal how and why Miss Fairchild was shaped into who she was.

At the end of the book, the author states that Darling Girls’s idea came from speaking to women raised in the foster care system in Australia. She also spoke to foster parents and social workers. I will assume that some of the more awful scenes were those that actually happened. She also acknowledged that villains (such as Miss Fairchild and Scott, the social worker) in the foster care system need to be fixed. I agree wholeheartedly with her.

This is not an easy book to read and it was not an easy book to process. Norah’s trauma, how she processed it, and how it affected her as an adult particularly struck a nerve with me. I read her chapters with tears in my eyes because of what she went through. Now, I know that she is a fictional character, but I couldn’t help but want to reach through the book, hug her, and put her in freaking therapy like yesterday.

The storyline with the body of an infant found under the house was compelling. We are introduced to Amy through the girls’ “before” storyline. How and why Amy was brought to Miss Fairchild wasn’t disclosed (remember, these girls were in their early teens). The treatment that they went through and what they saw Amy going through prompted all three to do something that would affect them for the rest of their lives. I felt so awful about the aftermath of that and what the police/Miss Fairchild implied. What is even worse is when, in the present-day chapters, the police were willing to entertain their story because a body was found.

I am not going to go into each girl’s backstory. But I will highlight what I thought was interesting. As an adult, Jessica was super uptight and had a type A personality. She ran a successful business. But Jessica was also a benzo addict and would steal them from her client’s houses. Norah had a temper on her, and she wasn’t afraid to use her fists to make her point. Because of her past, Norah has a hard time connecting with people. She used her temper and sex to keep everyone but her sisters at arm’s length. Lastly, there is Alicia. Out of the three, she has the most minor trauma. But, she does have body issues and low self-esteem due to the abuse she endured during her time with Miss Fairchild.

I loathed Miss Fairchild. The author truly wrote a villain who got under my skin. But, for a little bit, I felt bad for her. She also endured awful things, and they shaped her into who she became. Still, reading what she said to the girls and her treatment of them slowly stole away any pity I had for her. Even years later, she still got such reactions from the girls. She also got what she deserved in the end.

The mystery angle of the book was excellent. I liked how the author brought the bones of the infant found under the house and what happened that last day with Miss Fairchild together. It was freaking explosive. There were a couple of twists in that storyline that dropped my jaw. I also loved that Miss Fairchild finally got what was coming to her. Her lies collapsed on top of each other.

A twist at the end of the book took my perception of Miss Fairchild in another direction. I couldn’t believe what I read and the implications that were hinted at. I also loved seeing how Jessica, Alicia, and Norah were starting to heal from their childhood.

Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press, NetGalley, and Sally Hepworth for allowing me to read and review this ARC of Darling Girls. All opiniond stated in this review are mine.

📚 #BOOKREVIEW 📚
Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / Pages: 361 / Genre: Psychological Thriller

Jessica, Norah, and Alicia aren’t sisters by blood but they are sisters through their shared time together in an abusive foster home. And they’ve been supporting each other ever since. Years later, a body is discovered under the foster home, so they have to go back and dig up their past to help shed light on who those bones belong to.

This was exactly the kind of thriller I love. Every character is complicated and interesting. There’s strong female bonding, dogs, and twists and turns that pop up to keep you guessing all the way through.

Thank you, @NetGalley, @StMartinsPress, and @SallyHepworth for my gifted copy. I loved it!

Happy pub day to Darling Girls!

Jessica, Norah, and Alicia find themselves in very unfortunate situations that land them in the foster system. They get placed with Miss Fairchild at Wild Meadows. At first it looks like a dream come true. A loving mother, a pool, horse stables.
Miss Fairchild turns out to be a monster. She finds little ways to torture the girls. Making them clean for hours and giving them unimaginable punishments when they ‘misbehave.’

It’s been well over 20 years since the girls left Wild Meadows, but when they are contacted by detectives about human remains being discovered on the property, they return to where it all began.

There are some shocking twists in this book, and then a twist to the twist!

It is written in the POV of all 3 girls, past and present times. Even though this is fiction, it’s still sad to read how broken the system can be. Children getting thrown around into family after family. Never learning how to cope with their trauma. My heart broke for Alicia the most. Her loving grandma passed away when she was 10 and had a rude awakening with Miss Fairchild. I cried when she cried 😢
She is now a social worker and makes sure kids get placed with the best families 🤍

I’ve always had a soft spot for fostering and/or adopting one day, so this book pulled at my heartstrings a little bit. The authors acknowledgements at the end made me cry even more. These children consider themselves ‘lucky’ even when bad things happen to them but know that it could’ve been way worse.

Wow!

Absolutely phenomenal thriller from Sally Hepworth. I’ve read a few of her books, this one is my favorite so far. A riveting story of three girls fostered by a cruel and unhinged foster mother, and the mystery surrounding bones they find buried beneath their long deserted but not forgotten foster home.

I LOVED this book. Alternating between the girls’ childhoods and the years they spent in foster care under the supervision of the awful Miss Fairchild, and the present investigation into the bones found buried beneath Miss Fairchild’s home. Sometimes when books alternate between past and present, one timeline is done better and more exciting than the other. That is NOT the case in Darling Girls. Both timelines were equally exciting, and page turning. Once the book hit about 50%, I literally could not put it down. Each girl had a really compelling background to explore, and I was fascinated while reading their stories and each of their experiences under the care of Miss Fairchild. At times this book reminded me a little of Before We Were Yours, which was another book I devoured and loved.

Sally’s writing and storytelling are both impeccable. The twist at the end has my head spinning! Well done!

Highly recommend!

Sally Hepworth is one of my favorite authors. I've read a lot of her books. They are well written and keep me on the edge of my seat. Her characters are fully developed, and her descriptive writing makes me feel that I am living the experience with the characters. She writes the best evil characters. As always, Hepworth hits you at the end with a totally unexpected plot twist.

I highly recommend Darling Girls and all of her books.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a chance to review this book.

Link to Amazon review: https://www.amazon.com/review/R2TMUFBJFLIGH7/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

Darling Girls
Sally Hepworth

Jessica, Norah and Alicia; three sisters by chance all survivors of their foster mother Miss Fairchild. What looked like a sprawling farm estate and an idyllic upbringing for the three girls is full of long buried dark secrets and lasting mental scars.

When a body is discovered underneath the home they grew up in, the sisters must face their traumas head on; now thrust into the spotlight as key witnesses, forced to recall their upbringing, are they actually the prime suspects?

This book really wasn’t for me, I think it’s mostly because this is being categorized in the incorrect genre. There are some mystery/thriller elements but it is not nearly as intense of a page turner as you might be after. This book should also come with a significant trigger warning for mental child abuse/trauma and that is what makes this work more sad and tragic than a nail biting thriller. Told in past and present alternating chapters, the story and its characters are well developed and there was no issue keeping all elements straight and organized along the varying storyline which, speaks to this veteran writers skill and experience.

Thank you Net Galley and St. Martins press for the ARC!

Wow! This book was dark and tense and twisty. I loved the characters and the alternating POVS, but it was also easy to get lost. All and all, I will read anything Sally Hepworth writes!

Darling Girls is an unputdownable thriller by Sally Hepworth. It goes between past and present day, as three sisters are forced to revisit their foster home upbringing.

I really enjoyed this book. I was on the edge of my seat for most of it, and couldn’t wait to find out what happened. There were several twists and I didn’t find the plot to be predictable. Without giving anything away, the ending made me gasp.

Sally Hepworth is an auto-read author for me, and Darling Girls did not disappoint. A sincere thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the electronic arc of Darling Girls. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

I have really enjoyed everything I have read by Sally Hepworth, and this did not disappoint. This deals with secrets that 3 sisters have from their experience in a foster home as children. Twisty and kept me guessing though out the book. I would highly recommend for people who love smart mystery / thrillers.

Creepy and disturbing, but with a lot of heart and the joys of found family, this story is about flawed people and the discovery of their worth through heartbreak. Some are irredeemable, but all are unreservedly human.

I think you’ll love the bound between the sisters, the twisty plot, and the macabre circumstances.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy. These opinions are my own.

Darling Girls is a psychological mystery, showcasing Hepworth's darker tones in writing. Three women form an unbreakable bond after being placed in a foster home. This house of horrors is perfect on the outside, but once the door close, Holly Fairchild unleashes her lasting scars.

Twenty-five years later, the ladies are forced back to home to aid in the investigation of bones found on the property. This story alternates between the past and present, providing insight into the girls survival. The culminating conclusion provides what we expect, a stunning twist!

Thank you, St. Martin's Press.

Sally Hepworth has done it again! Darling Girls is an addictive psychological thriller that lends itself to binge reading in one day. Jessica, Norah, and Alicia are found sisters bonded by their experiences growing up in foster care. Their foster mother, Miss Fairchild, is alternately loving and cruel, setting the girls on unstable paths to adulthood. When a body is found on the grounds of their old foster home, Jessica, Norah, and Alicia have to confront past demons. Perfectly plotted, the twists come at just the right times, building to a shocking conclusion. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read and review this ARC!

Thank you so much Netgalley, Sally Hepworth, and St. Martin's Press for the ebook! Wow! This was such a gripping and also sad read! Having worked in the psychiatric world just knowing the disposition foster kids are put in just makes this story so much more real to me. The twist at the end had my jaw on the floor!!

More mystery than thriller, this story comes to us from multiple perspectives and timelines, unraveling in pieces, over time, so it slowly comes together.

I never fail to enjoy a Sally Hepworth novel. Once secrets started spilling out, more arose. The girls had to deal with major issues from all directions, and I was surprised by some of what they endured.

Overall, a satisfying read.

I received an ARC of this book. Fantastic story! I really enjoyed this book. I was caught up in the tale from the start and couldn't wait to find out the conclusion. Highly recommend!

DARLING GIRLS review

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25/5

🩵Anyone else a Sally Hepworth fanatic?! ✋ I’ve read 8 of her books and they’re all so good in their own way!! Her older work leans toward women’s fiction where as her newer books are more suspense/family drama. DARLING GIRLS had no shortage of family drama and I was immediately invested in the story!

🩵Here’s a summary of the plot:👇
Jessica, Norah, and Alicia were raised by the same foster mother as children. The horrible treatment they suffered bonded them as “sisters” for life. Now a body has been discovered under the house they grew up in and everyone wants to know what really happened at their foster home?!

🩵Holy plot twists! The final ending of this book had me 🤯. I thought I knew where this story was headed (and I was partly right) but the final twist at the end left my head spinning! This book is Hepworth’s darkest yet and definitely check content warnings! I really enjoyed this one overall and Hepworth is absolutely an auto-read author for me!

🩵Thanks @stmartinspress and @macmillan.audio for my advanced copy! DARLING GIRLS is available now (happy pub day)!!

I greatly enjoyed this novel! It was so bingeable and interesting. Complex plot, twists left and right, and the ending was completely unexpected. I had one qualm with it and it's that if Miss Fairchild hated Amy so much, why would she foster a bunch of kids and then adopt a bunch of babies and name them all Amy? I guess I feel like her lie was more believable than what actually happened. I would've loved for Sally Hepworth to touch on that a little bit more but regardless, I enjoyed this book all the same! Rating 3.75!

4.5 rounded down to 4.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of this book.

Sally Hepworth is a master at her craft. She can spin a psychological thriller with the best of them! Darling Girls was equal parts suspenseful, tense, sad, and creepy. There are four different POV, which I wasn't crazy about, but I understood the purpose of. The story is told from three foster children's viewpoints, both now and when they were in their foster home. The foster mother is clearly demented and it was so tense to read her interactions with the children. I was really never sure what was about to happen to the girls.

This book does portray a toxic and dangerous foster home situation. Abuse and neglect are also a large part of the story, so please proceed with caution if those things are triggering for you.

Hepworth does a great job showing the ways in which childhood trauma can filter into life as an adult. All three of the women, who were the foster children, were dealing with their own individual sets of problems as adults. But their bond and love for each other was so strong and deep that they instinctually knew they could rely on the others when they needed them. I really appreciate a good depiction of true sisterhood.

This is a solid thriller and one I will definitely be recommending to all my thiller loving friends. This is only my second Hepworth book. But I feel like she is going to fast become an auto-buy author for me!

Jessica, Norah, and Alicia are as close as sisters, raised together in a seemingly idyllic foster home. But their past was far from perfect, and it still haunts them to this day. When, in the present, a body is found under their old home, secrets threaten to spill out.

Hepworth really cleverly uses point of view here, especially in the mysterious therapist sessions. We get backstory from multiple characters, which really helps build up the world of the book and keeps the suspense going.

The reveals took my breath away, especially the last one, which still haunts me. This is really an expertly plotted and well written book, that will keep readers engrossed and constantly second guessing. I would recommend this book.

She’s done it again!!! Sally Hepworth is the master at writing chilling psychological suspense. DARLING GIRLS is very much character driven and way darker than her other novels. Told in three POV’s, then and now; -the first chapter opens with a POV from an unknown person.

The story revolves around three tightly-bonded foster sisters; -Jessica, Norah and Alicia who were cared for at Wild Meadows by the deviously sinister Miss Fairchild. Twenty-five years later bones are discovered under the farmhouse and the police have requested them to return to Port Agatha for questioning.

With mental scars still felt to this day, the women’s lives have been far from perfect. What begins as a traumatic journey through their childhood.. to the present with disfunction in love, life threatening addiction and crazy DRAMA.. you’d think it couldn’t get any worse. It does. This tale goes way beyond the normal twisty rollercoaster ride of unsettling moments. Just know Hepworth wraps up with one HE**UVA ENDING. Karma, gotta love it!!! 4.5 stars — Pub. 4/23/24

I received an advanced copy from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.